As an American I’m curious what it’s like if you need to go to the doctor and how much you pay from say a broken arm to general checkup. Also list what country please
UK
I have never paid anything for any kind of medical care. I do pay for my medicine prescriptions, which coat about £10 when I need them, which is infrequent.
They are essentially capped at something like £120 per year if you did need a lot.
Sweden.
I broke my knee at 16. Hospital bill: $0 (because I was under age at the time)
Any consultation with a nurse/doctor follows the standard fee of:~$25
Everyone gets free dental until they turn 26 years old.
My dad recently broke his arm (again). The total bill from the hospital including casting and xray: ~$35
If you have to spend more than ~$200 on medications in a year, you will be capped at that amount and everything above is literally, free.
Same goes for doctors visits but that’s a separate ~$200 cap reached independently
Netherlands
Good, I’d pay my “eigen risico” of a few hundred EUR - presuming I didn’t already spend it before then - but it’s slowly getting worse due to mass-migration (3x the historic percentage-points of the total population; that’s over 100k added on a population of 18 mil, even when that should be closer to 30k instead, historically speaking).
You can do things for free or cheap but some things have so long waiting times, that you opt for private doctors, which can be somewhat cheap, at least in comparison with the US and because there is “competition” with the public system.
Italy:
Going to doctor is free. Going to hospital is free unless you went for a non-emergency. In that case you may be eligible to pay something like 30€ (if you are poor you pay 0 anyways).
UK resident: it is brilliant. HOWEVER the politicians seek to turn it into a private system by way of a thousand cuts and being paid members of various think tanks and even being on company boards.
Australia. A broken arm no fee. General check up - no fee.
Not in WA. $95 for a 10 minute GP consult, but you get ~$35 back from Medicare. It is usually a 2 week wait to get an appointment but a maybe 10 minute wait in the waiting room. Urgent care is ~$180, wait is up to 2 hours. Emergencies are $0 but wait times can vary from 5 minutes to 3 hours. I wouldnt want to do hospital care without private health insurance.
some insurance( a specific type of hmo) the ambulance is 75/use, and 200/ER visit. this doesnt include TESTS, or Rx, specialists in the er. im using one that has this, because i was earning just enough to not get subsidized healthcare from the state.
Crying in expat
Norway - I think the basic way you and me think about anything health related are so vastly different, its hard for each of us to comprehend the others mindset.
Sweden.
Pretty decent for anything acute (broken something, dislocated whatchamacallit), but utter dog shit for chronic issues. “Yeah, you have sinus issues, wait 3+ months for ENT” or “Okay, Sertraline’s doing shit for you except making you more grumpy, but keep trying with it”. So fucking awful that literal WebMD can be better for some chronic conditions.
Thank you for pointing out the flaws. Americans glorify universal care, and non Americans don’t understand what they are missing.
As an immigrant to America from a country with universal care, as well as suffering from an auto immune disorder, I am doing considerably better under the USA system than I was in the country I came from.
Besides the difficulty seeing specialists and getting advanced medication and procedures you have mentioned, proponents of universal care often forget to mention the proliferation of private medical services in every country offering universal care. How come there is a market for private hospitals and clinics if the public system is as great as they claim?
That being said, I still think the USA system needs major improvement, and in my 20 years of living in the USA, has noticeably gotten worse.
Tbf. The american system is fine if you can afford to pay. And you’re always welcome to private care in countries with universal care.
Of course! The ones paying for top medical insurance are being subsidised by all the people that can only afford the more basic care.
The money has to come from somewhere and it sure as Hell isn’t coming out of the CEOs bonus.
mostly fine, depending on the insurance you have. some insurance wont cover certain things over others, plus some will require long wait times before insurance kicks in, not good if you have sudden emergenc ysituation, or a very urgent thing like like symptom that wont go away. and out of pocket and deductibles is whole another problem.
dental seems insanely expensive even with free or subsidized healthcare. as private pratices dont take state subsidized like medi-caid. at least most dont, the onlys that did are pretty like questionable ones or low quality/soso. ive seen the dental school.clinics, waiting time is quite a while since its low cost. if you have a immediate issue like pain, abscess, broken tooth you really cant afford to wait weeks to get on-boarding to get seen in the first appointment in most cases, since its a student based dental school, they have holidays and midterms/finals so all those days are blocked out for them. right now the ACA helps people with subsidies, but you have to shop around which fits your needs(if you need alot of visits, appts, medication you have to cough up more per month)
Living in France
I know someone who had to get a liver transplantation. The surgery was costing something like 300000 euros ( around 350,000 USD ). She could never afford such surgery. She was flown by helicopter to the hospital and back on a around 3 hours trip. Did not pay anything…
WOW!
i think transplants are expensive anywhere, since its such a rare thing and livers are hard to come by. assuming you arnt going to questionable countries for a transplant.
I’m at the doctor right now here in Australia
Paid nothing. Paid nothing for my tests too
Hi,
(France) for a broken arm or a general checkup you wouldn’t pay anything. Actually, for the checkup you would pay upfront (my doc takes 10€) and get reimbursed a few days later.
Don’t be fooled, there are constant attacks on this system by the ruling class, they try and nudge the narrative a little bit every day, but it’s so entrenched here I keep my hopes up that we won’t let it go without a fight.
Russia
Everyone has free health insurance that covers all procedures, doctor visits, ambulance calls, and most hospitalization cases in the respective government clinics based on where they live.
General physicians are available at any government clinic as needed, regardless of where you are. Other specialists are only available at your main clinic and directed to either by GP or as part of a free 5-yearly checkup. You can book an appointment online, call into the clinic, or come in person to do so. GPs are always available on short notice, and you can get there without booking if you need urgent care. Dentists are also available without booking for urgent cases. Trauma units operate 24/7 and accept without booking.
If you’re too sick to come in person, you can also call for a GP to arrive through a unified hotline, regardless of your current location, or even whether you have Russian citizenship or insurance for that matter.
The quality of care itself is highly regionally dependent, but mostly alright. Larger cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg have it better, smaller, faraway cities have it worse. Queues differ significantly between places and specialists, and can be anything between 15 minutes and 2-3 weeks.
Private clinics exist, prices are bitey, but the quality of care is generally high. Work can offer private health insurance, giving free access to their services.
TL;DR all free (with some paid options), available to everyone, decent quality, acceptable waiting times.
I have heard horror stories about having to bribe the doctor and nurses when you arrive at the hospital in labor because they give bare minimum plus “mistakes” otherwise. Is it free plus expected/required tip?
Didn’t hear of something like this, most likely a local scandal somewhere. Not a common practice. However, some officially paid options remain, like the most potent forms of anesthesia, or a private room in some instances.
There are some forms of widespread corruption. Many of the head physicians are bribed by pharmacy companies so that doctors prescribe unnecessarily expensive (albeit still relevant) medication, racking the patient’s bills on that. In some instances, bribing the right people allows you to bypass the queues as an urgent patient without being one.
As per maternity hospitals, I’ve heard of a few…questionable practices, still. The “husband stitch”, for example, is still a thing in some regional hospitals, and it’s not good for women’s health and wellbeing.
Cool, thanks for the response
amazing. i cant fathom this not being the global norm
